Author: Ron Murawski
Date: 10:07:47 07/01/02
Hi everyone, History On July 1, 2002, Horizon was exactly one year old. I am counting Horizon's birthday from the day I started writing my first line of code, not from the first release, which was on October 25, 2001 (The same day that Microsoft released Windows XP). Horizon's first release marked it as a promising engine, but it later became a bitter disappointment as I first released the disastrous version 2.0 and then the equally bad 2.01 version without proper testing; Horizon's reputation suffered due to my ignorance. Now that I have learned that the secret to success is "Test, test, test", Horizon is once again a promising engine and it has improved by leaps and bounds, especially with all the version 3 releases which have added, if you believe my claims, at least 200 points in playing strength. Thanks to all the WinBoarders out there for their interest and thanks to all the people who take the time to play tournaments between engines. Current Version Current version is: Horizon 3.2 (release date: July 1, 2002) The estimated strength increase over version 3.1 is about 50 points. The change that most strengthened this version was the total revision of the trade-down code. The new optimizations have speeded up the search, especially early in the game and have also added strength. A new opening book will be released shortly. Tech Note: 2002/07/01 version 3.2: Size of hash signature increased from 40 bits to 64 bits to eliminate hash collisions once and for all. Did some code optimizations and added some assembly language routines for speed gains. Trade-down code totally rewritten. Lazy eval tweaked. Attention: If anyone wishes to become an Horizon beta-tester please email me. You must be willing to play-test the latest beta on your machine against approximately equal opponents (those that fall within 100 points of Horizon on your machine at the time control you choose). When you email your results and pgns back to me I will send you back the latest Horizon beta. I usually code for a week and then test the changes for a week and then decide if I will keep the changes or not. All active beta-testers will be given credit at the HorizonChess website. email: HorizonChess@yahoo.com webpage: http://www.HorizonChess.com Ron
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